A two-year-old boy fell into a well in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district and died by drowning on Friday, officials said, adding that the child was declared dead after a 22-hour rescue operation to recover him.
According to officials, the child, Bhagirath Dewasi, slipped into a 200-feet-deep well around 7.30 pm on Thursday in Galaria village under Badnagar tehsil. After a large-scale rescue operation carried out by joint teams from SDRF and NDRF, his body was recovered using iron rods, ropes and specialized borehole drilling machines.
How did the child die?
Ujjain Superintendent of Police Pradeep Mishra confirmed that the body had been shifted from the village to the government hospital in Badnagar. He said: “Strict measures will be taken after investigating anyone whose negligence is found to have contributed to this tragedy.”
Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Ashok Patel said Bhagirath died within a few hours of falling into the well, and a post-mortem examination confirmed drowning as the cause of death.
What the authorities said
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav expressed grief over the incident and described it as very tragic. He announced financial aid $$4,000 to the boy’s parents and posted on X’s website, “Despite immediate rescue efforts, the child could not be saved.”
Bhagirath’s father, Praveen Dewasi, originally from the Pali region of Rajasthan, was camping in the area with his family to herd sheep. According to the mother, the child was playing nearby when he used a stone to dislodge the cover of the well. Thinking the hole was a bucket, he went inside and fell. I rushed to save him but he had already slipped deeper into the shaft.
Rescuers found the child 75 feet deep inside the well containing water. Attempts to dig a parallel tunnel failed due to the rocky terrain. Efforts to put a rescue ring around his hands and pull him out also failed.
